Next communication session with Russia’s space radio telescope due Sunday - Roscosmos

Model of Spektr-R telescope

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. The next communication session with Russia’s Spektr-R space radio telescope, which experienced technical problems earlier this week, will take place on Sunday, said Alexander Bloshenko, a scientific advisor to the head of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos.

"The next communication session with the spacecraft is scheduled for 14:00 Moscow time, January 13," he said.

Bloshenko added that the radio telescope has operated 2.5 times longer than expected.

Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos said on Saturday that "beginning with January 10, 2019, problems emerged in the operation of the service systems that currently make it impossible to tackle a targeted task." Specialists of the Main Operational Group of Spacecraft Control are trying to fix the problem.

The Spektr-R was launched in 2011 and the warranty period of its active operation expired back in 2014. Before this year, the radio telescope continued tackling targeted tasks, Roscosmos said.